


Of Champions and Reminicing

by Kiri_Kaitou_Clover



Series: Coda: What is unseen [4]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime 2019), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Ash oblivious to his growing crush, Gen, Gou barely shows up, Implications of Ash's never changing age, Implications of the effects of Kalos on Ash, Lance low key stalks Ash for obvious reasons, Nostalgia, POV Lance, Post Episode Meeting, SS012 - Daimax Battle! Dande The Greatest of Them All!!, but Ash talks about him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25445716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiri_Kaitou_Clover/pseuds/Kiri_Kaitou_Clover
Summary: A meeting that occurred once the battle was over.Lance never expected to be in the same area as the young trouble magnet again, but it's surprising and welcome nonetheless.Even if said trouble magnet was yet again averting disasters.[A scene from after the World Championship Finals, before Ash and Gou leave]
Relationships: Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & Gou (Pokemon), Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & Wataru | Lance
Series: Coda: What is unseen [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665454
Comments: 6
Kudos: 324





	Of Champions and Reminicing

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of the fics that I had as a work in progress and one of the fics I really wanted to write when I learned that we'd be seeing Lance VS Leon. It's mainly Lance's POV for this one rather than Ash or Gou because of how long it's been since Lance has seen Ash. It's been done for a while, but I've held back on posting it bc some parts of it still felt weird and I need to work out the kinks. 
> 
> Big thanks to InfernalFox again for being the first reader/beta for my Poke fics! 
> 
> Anyways, some minor notes:  
> 1\. I'll continue referring to Gou and the rest of the characters by their JP names, outside of Pokemon, moves, abilities, and characters whose Eng names are more commonly used (like Lance and Leon). This is to avoid having to change the names again. Also as much as Cerise makes sense as the translation for Sakuragi, I'm sticking to the latter for the future installments in this series of fics.  
> 2\. The World Coronation Series is called Pokemon World Championship and I'm gonna keep it as that since I'm sticking to JP version of the series.  
> 3\. I had Lance comment about Ash's age and this will serve purpose a bit later if I ever mention how many regions Ash has gone to with Gou later down the line. Seeing the Vermillion Gym and VS Korrina episodes are some of the other regional nostalgia episodes, I'm likely to make Gou bring it up at some point.

Lance had remained to help calm the various spectators while Leon had gone outside to investigate. While a wild Gigantamaxed Pokemon was rather worrying, it was clear to him that Leon was more experienced at dealing with these situations. It was a natural phenomenon for the region after all, and as much experience Lance had had in dealing with giant, out of control Pokemon, he knew it was best he left it to those who understood what they were doing.

As he continued to settle the spectators back into their seats, Lance flinched as another loud crash sounded not a moment later, the ground and stands shaking once more. Above the panicked screams of the masses though, Lance could have sworn he'd heard a Pikachu's cry of all things. Surely he was imagining things... right?

...

Hearing the rumbles of thunder, and seeing the bolt of lightning crash down next to the stadium, apparently not.

* * *

It didn't take long, but once the announcer returned and reassured the audience that the situation had been handled, Lance breathed a sigh of relief, before rushing off to meet Leon. The lightning had clearly not been the Max Lightning he'd seen earlier in their battle. Which meant someone else had been there, and Lance wanted to be sure he hadn't been hearing things.

Catching sight of the other champion speaking to an official, Lance called out to him, "Leon! I'd like a word!"

Lance could see the surprise in the younger man's eyes as he turned to greet him, "Lance! This is a surprise! I thought you'd have left by now."

"Considering the minor disaster that was occurring outside the stadium, I stuck around to help," Lance chuckled, before his eyes turned serious, "Plus, it wouldn't do for someone part of the G-men to leave a situation like what happened earlier alone. I would like to hear an explanation on how it had been handled."

"Right, right," Leon gave a nervous laugh. He then gestured to one of the waiting rooms, "I'll explain inside. Let me just settle what I was doing earlier, then we'll talk."

Lance nodded, heading into the room and taking a seat on one of the couches. It didn't take long for Leon to join him, and Lance said, "I'll get straight to the point. The one who subdued the Drednaw wasn't you. That lightning bolt was way different from the Max Lightning your Charizard showed off today."

"As expected of one of the G-men, I can't get anything past you," Leon rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he sat himself down. "Yeah. It wasn't me. A kid's Pikachu managed to undergo Gigantamaxing for the first time and fought that Drednaw off, with a bit of advice from yours truly. He and his friend came to watch our fight, apparently."

"That makes sense. It explains why I thought I'd heard a Pikachu's cry coming from outside the stadium," Lance pondered as he leaned back. "Did he by any chance say where he's from?"

"Pallet, of your home region, if I remember correctly," Leon chuckled. "You definitely have one dedicated fan-base if those kids were willing to fly out just to watch our fight."

Leon however, had to pause in his chuckles when he heard the slightly pained groan from Lance, looking to see the previously curious face now simply exhausted.

"Of course it would be him. It's a Pikachu. Why did I expect anyone else?" Lance sighed as he stood up from the couch to leave the room. "Thank you for the information, Leon. And once again, thank you for the battle today. I had better take my leave now."

As the door closed behind Lance, Leon could only gape in bewilderment, wondering why Lance had reacted the way he did.

(Further thought would only peak Leon's curiosity towards the young trainer he had mentioned to Lance. Perhaps he'd try and find him the next day...)

* * *

Lance headed to the Pokemon Center. It had already gotten dark, but Lance had doubts that the trainer he had in mind would leave the region that soon.

Sure enough, sitting out on the bench of the Center battlefield with his Pikachu, was his target.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Lance relaxed his face, smiling as he said, "I guess I should have expected to see you here the moment I heard a Pikachu and saw that lightning today."

Amber eyes whirled in his direction and Lance almost had to laugh at the delighted grin on the boy's face as he greeted him back, "Lance!" an echoed "Pika!" following up.

"Good to see you, Ash. Haven't seen you in person since Hoenn," Lance nodded as he sat next to the younger trainer.

"Be glad you haven't seen me since Hoenn," Ash retorted with a smile. "I was watching your battle today. I'm glad to see that Gyarados is still doing good. And it's so much stronger now!"

"You and Pikachu have grown plenty strong too, if what I've been hearing from other regions is correct," Lance mused as he scratched Pikachu's chin, eliciting a happy "cha~" from him. "I never had a chance because I'd been busy preparing for the World Championships, but congratulations on becoming Alola's first Champion, Ash."

Lance had to laugh when Ash began to blush and stutter and frantically gesture, which then turned into a pout.

"Thanks..." Ash muttered, still blushing furiously. "I'm still not used to being called Champion yet. And being called one by you is super embarrassing."

"That is fair," Lance chuckled, then his smile softened. "You seem more relaxed. I'm glad Alola did you some good during your time there."

Lance wasn't all too surprised when that smile turned into a strange mix of wistful and strained as Ash replied, "It was better than my last journey, that's for sure."

Lance understood why, though he wouldn't actually bring it up. Kalos had been a right mess, and even though it had been a while now since then, Diantha was still dealing with the fallout of that entire situation. And while it hadn't been surprising that Ash had been at the center of that disaster, it was clear he'd been affected badly, considering how long the boy had stayed in Pallet after. 

(Lance wouldn't admit that he sent agents to check on Ash from time to time, ever since the near disaster in Sinnoh. Somehow learning more of Ash's exploits from other Champions to the Ranger Union of all organizations just made him worry about the boy's propensity for getting into such situations in every region he went to.)

Before he could change the subject, Ash did it for him, suddenly diving into talking about Pikachu's Gigantamax form. Lance didn't mind. It broke the silence that had built up, and Lance was enjoying the debate with the young trainer on his experience that afternoon. It didn't really surprise him that the boy was already creating ideas for when (not if) Pikachu ever under went the transformation again.

"I really want to battle Leon though," Ash said suddenly, fire in his eyes. "I really want to battle him and his Charizard. They seem close."

"Talking about challenging regional champions other than me, Ash? Really?" Lance joked. 

"I kinda don't want to re-challenge Kanto's gyms just yet. I still have so much to learn, especially from regions such as Galar. Plus..." Ash started when a voice called out.

"Ash! Aren't you coming in yet?! You've been outside for a while!" 

Lance turned to look in the direction of the voice and blinked. A new travel partner? Leon had informed him that Ash had been with a friend. The boy seemed around Ash's age, but then again, Ash had seemingly stopped looking like his age for some time, so he couldn't exactly tell. 

"A friend of yours?" Lance asked, and Ash chuckled, "A good one, with a really big dream too. I kinda want to help him work his way to it."

"Then I guess I'd better leave you to that," Lance smiled. The moment the other boy showed up, Ash had immediately brightened, as if their presence had lifted a load off him. "I'll probably catch up with you another time, Ash."

"If you can find me," Ash teased, and Lance laughed, leaving Ash to his rest.

As Lance walked away, the voices of Ash and the other boy faded into the distance. 

"Gou! Sorry to keep you waiting!" 

"Were you talking to someone Ash?"

"Mhm. An old friend I hadn't expected to see today!"

"You sure have a lot of old friends Ash. One day you really have to introduce me instead of waiting for me to find out by accident. Anyways, come on! I managed to film some of Pikachu's Gigantamax form on my phone, I know you want to have a closer look at what you two did earlier."

"Really?!" "Pika?!"

"No need to thank me!"

**Author's Note:**

> Nothing much extra to mention here. Originally I planned on Gou actually learning that Ash met up with Lance, but somehow the conversation didn't flow as well as I wanted it to. Anyways, the Lance POV worked a lot better than I thought. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed the fic! Next is probably the Gengar one. I'm gonna need to rewatch that episode and finally begin to catch up on all the other episodes as well. I'm up to Scorbunny's evolution episode so far, but I have a long way to go and several ideas already hatching in my head.


End file.
